Day five of the 2010 Winter Olympics and things are starting to get really good. That’s because the Men’s Ice Hockey got underway today with the US taking on Switzerland. The US team is loaded with NHL talent; probably more than any other team, except for maybe Canada but the team is also very young. In fact there’s been lots of speculation that the US would be considered a bit of an underdog, too young and too inexperienced to make it very far; that the majority of the US success would lie in the gloved hand of goalie Ryan Miller.
Switzerland doesn’t have a ton of big names, save for their saver; goalie Jonas Hiler who is the net minder for the Anaheim Ducks. But they’re not to be brushed off quite so easily either as they were thought to be a very strong team defensively; and that would bode well against a young, fast and offensively aggressive US team. Not to mention the fact that Hiler has been doing so well in Anaheim, that he took the full time job away from Stanley Cup winning Jean Sebastien Giguere who was traded to the Toronto Maple Leafs last month.
For much of the first period things seemed pretty evenly matched. That is until just over a minute left in the first period. Former Iowa Chop and current Anaheim Duck, Bobby Ryan took a puck that bounced off the boards and fired it home unassisted for the first goal of the game.
Bobby Ryan is playing in his very first Olympics. Bobby Ryan got the very first goal. Bobby Ryan scored that goal against his own goaltender (ok, they’re on the same team when it’s not Olympics time). Bobby Ryan has made many of us here, me included, very happy and very proud.

Bobby’s goal set the pace for the rest of the game as in just over two minutes into the second period goals were scored by David Backes and Ryan Malone. Backes, by the way, grew up very near our very own Andy Hall. He also played his junior hockey in the USHL in my old stomping grounds of Lincoln NE, for the Lincoln Stars. I used to watch him play every weekend.
The Swiss managed to squeak in one goal on Miller with about 10 minutes left in the game. The initial shot hit Miller’s stick and then dropped down to his pads and just trickled over and behind him.
The US defeated the Swiss 3-1 in the opening rounds of Olympic play. It was a great game all the way around and I think after this, they’ve proved that they just might be more of a contender than they may be given credit for.
The US will next face Norway at 2pm on Thursday on USA Network. Norway suffered an 8-0 beat down from the home team, Canada, so they shouldn’t be much of a problem.
God I love this game!